Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet approved a multibillion-dollar stimulus package on Friday, fulfilling the new leader’s promise to pursue an expansionary fiscal policy.
The stimulus, worth JPY21.3 trillion ($135.4 billion), includes general account disbursements of JPY17.7 trillion, significantly larger than last year’s JPY13.9 trillion, representing the biggest fiscal bazooka since the COVID pandemic. The package also includes JPY 2.7 trillion in tax cuts.
The package aims to ease the burden of inflation on households and businesses, according to media reports, an approach that could contradict traditional economic views that stimulus tends to be inflationary.
However, bitcoin Widely seen as a hedge against inflation and monetary and fiscal recklessness, it fell 0.8% to $85,480, extending a recent selloff that saw prices fall from a record high of $126,000 hit on Oct. 8.
